Characterization of Pueraria mirifica populations from various parts of Thailand

Abstract

The survey of P. mirifica plant in 10 provinces from the northern, northeastern, and central part of Thailand has been conducted during 1998-2000. It was noted that the plant could be found in the deciduous forest with bamboo forest, on the slant, slope and mountainous area. The soil texture were the loamy, gravel and sandy. The plant was commonly found in Chiangmai and Kanchanaburi province. The different characterizations among the plants collected from different areas were the color of flowers and seeds. It was revealed that the color of the flowers from the northern part were dark purple while from the central part were lighter. The tuberous roots were collected and submitted to Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) analysis. The qualitative as well as quantitative difference of puerarin content by TLC-densitometry analysis was found. The seeds were characterized by the color, pattern and shape. The seeds were collected from Chiangmai and Kanchanaburi variety for study of genetic difference in the field plot. The results of the plant growth and the production of tuberous roots were not different between the two varieties. The tuberous root were collected and analyzed for the percentage of protein, fiber, fat and ash. The percentage of starch content in the Kanchanaburi variety was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of the Chiangmai variety. TLC -densitometry analysis, using puerarin as a standard, confirmed the difference between the two varieties.